FATHER  ABRAHAM 


IDA  M.  TARBELL 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

CERF  LIBRARY 

PRESENTED  BY 

REBECCA  CERF  '02. 

IN  THE  NAMES  OF 

CHARLOTTE  CERF  '95 

MARCEL  E.  CERF  '97 

BARRY  CERF  \)2 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 


I    RKCKON    HE     LEARNED   MOKE   FROM    THE    SOLDIERS 
THAN  HE  DID  FROM  THE  GENERALS" 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 


BY 
IDA  M.  TARBELL 

Author  of  "  The  Life  of  Lincoln,"  "  The  History  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,"  etc. 

With  Illustrations  by 
BLENDON  CAMPBELL 


NEW  YORK 
MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

1909 


COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY  THE 
PHILLIPS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,  1909,  BY 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

Published  March,  1909 


THE   QUIKN    ft   BODEN    CO.    PRESS 
RAHWAY,    N.    J. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


"  I  reckon  lie  learned  more  from  the  soldiers 
than  he  did  from  generals  "  Frontispiece 

"  An  army  that  don't  have  its  belly  and 
•feet  taken  care  of  ain't  going  to  do  much 
fighting ".....  6 

"  And  it's  nuthin'  but  one  big  hospital, 
Billy" 14 

What  am  I  that  Thou  shouldst  ask  this  of 
me? 24 

"  Don't  mind  me,  Billy,  the  Lord  generally 
knows  what  He's  about  "  .  .26 

"  Be  you  Abe  Lincoln?  "    .        .        .        .34 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 


KIND-HEARTED?      Mr.     Lin 
coln  kind-hearted? 

I  don't  believe  a  man  ever  lived 
who'd  rather  seen  everybody  happy  and 
peaceable  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  He 
never  could  stand  it  to  have  people  suf- 
ferin'  or  not  gettin'  what  they  wanted. 
Time  and  time  again  I've  seen  him  go 
taggin'  up  street  here  in  this  town  after 
some  youngster  that  was  blubberin'  be 
cause  he  couldn't  have  what  wa'n't  good 
for  him.  Seemed  as  if  he  couldn't  rest 
till  that  child  was  smilin'  again.  You  can 
go  all  over  Springfield  and  talk  to  the 
people  who  was  boys  and  girls  when  he 
lived  here  and  every  blamed  one  will  tell 
you  something  he  did  for  'em.  Every- 
3 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
body's  friend,  that's  what  he  was.     Jest 
as  natural  for  him  to  be  that  way  as  'twas 
for  him  to  eat  or  drink. 

Yes,  I  suppose  bein'  like  that  did  make 
the  war  harder  on  him.  But  he  had  horse 
sense  as  well  as  a  big  heart,  Mr.  Lincoln 
had.  He  knew  you  couldn't  have  war 
without  somebody  gettin'  hurt.  He  ex 
pected  sufferin',  but  he  knew  'twas  his 
business  not  to  have  any  more  than  was 
necessary  and  to  take  care  of  what  come. 
And  them  was  two  things  that  wa'n't  done 
like  they  ought  to  'a'  been.  That  was 
what  worried  him. 

Seemed  as  if  hardly  anybody  at  the 
start  had  any  idea  of  how  important  'twas 
to  take  good  care  of  the  boys  and  keep  'em 
from  gettin'  sick  or  if  they  did  get  sick  to 
cure  'em.  I  remember  Leonard  Swett  was 
in  here  one  day  'long  back  in  '61  and  he 
says :  "  Billy,  Mr.  Lincoln  knows  more 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
about  how  the  soldiers  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  cook  flapjacks  than  you  do 
about  puttin'  up  quinine.  There  ain't  a 
blamed  thing  they  do  in  that  army  that  he 
ain't  interested  in.  I  went  down  to  camp 
with  him  one  day  and  I  never  see  an  old 
hunter  in  the  woods  quicker  to  spot  a  rab 
bit's  track  than  he  was  every  little  kink 
about  the  houseKeepin'.  When  we  got 
back  to  town  he  just  sat  and  talked  and 
talked  about  the  way  the  soldiers  was  liv- 
in',  seemed  to  know  all  about  'em  every- 
ways:  where  they  was  short  of  shoes, 
where  the  rations  were  poor,  where  they 
had  camp-fever  worst ;  told  me  how  hard 
tack  was  made,  what  a  good  thing  quinine 
and  onions  are  to  have  handy, — best  cure 
for  diarrhea,  sore  feet,  homesickness, 
everything.  I  never  heard  anything  like 
it." 

Seemed  to  bother  Swett  a  little  that 
5 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
Mr.  Lincoln  took  so  much  interest  in  all 
them  little  things,  but  I  said:  "  Don't  you 
worry,  Mr.  Swett,  Mr.  Lincoln's  got  the 
right  idee.  An  army  that  don't  have  its 
belly  and  feet  taken  care  of  ain't  goin'  to 
do  much  fightin',  and  Mr.  Lincoln's  got 
sense  enough  to  know  it.  He  knows  diar 
rhea's  a  blamed  sight  more  dangerous  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  than  Stonewall 
Jackson.  Trouble  so  far  has  been,  in  my 
judgment,  that  the  people  that  ought  to 
have  been  seein'  to  what  the  soldiers  was 
eatin'  and  drinkin'  and  whether  their  beds 
was  dry  and  their  bowels  movin',  was 
spendin'  their  time  polishin'  their  buttons 
and  shinin'  their  boots  for  parade." 

"  What  I  don't  see,"  says  Swett,  "  is 
how  he  learned  all  the  things  he  knows. 
They  ain't  the  kind  of  things  you'd  natu 
rally  think  a  president  of  the  United 
States  would  be  interestin'  himself  in." 
6 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
There  'twas, — same  old  fool  notion  that 
a  president  ought  to  sit  inside  somewhere 
and  think  about  the  Constitution.  I  used 
to  be  that  way — always  saw  a  president 
lookin'  like  that  old  picture  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  up  there  settin'  beside  a  parlor 
table  holdin'  a  roll  of  parchment  in  his 
hand,  and  Leonard  Swett  was  like  me  a 
little  in  spite  of  his  bein'  educated. 

Learned  it!  Think  of  Leonard  Swett 
askin'  that  with  all  his  chances  of  bein' 
with  Mr.  Lincoln!  Learned  it  just  as  he 
had  everything  by  bein'  so  dead  interested. 
He'd  learned  it  if  he  hadn't  been  president 
at  all,  if  he'd  just  been  loafin'  around 
Washington  doin'  nuthin'.  Greatest  hand 
to  take  notice  of  things.  I  tell  you  he'd 
made  a  great  war  correspondent.  Things 
he'd  'a'  seen!  And  the  way  he'd  'a'  told 
'em!  I  can  just  see  him  now  pumpin' 
everybody  that  had  been  to  the  front. 
7 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
Great  man  to  make  you  talk,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was.  I've  heard  him  say  himself  that 
most  of  the  education  he  had  he'd  got  from 
people  who  thought  they  was  learnin' 
from  him. 

I  reckon  he  learned  a  lot  more  from  sol 
diers  about  how  the  armies  was  bein'  taken 
care  of  than  he  did  from  generals.  My 
brother  Isaac,  who  had  a  place  down  there 
addin'  up  figgers  or  somethin',  used  to  tell 
me  of  seein'  Mr.  Lincoln  stoppin'  'em  on 
the  street  and  out  around  the  White 
House  and  talkin'  to  'em.  Isaac  said 
'twa'n't  becomin'  in  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  be  so  familiar  with  com 
mon  soldiers,  he  ought  to  keep  among  the 
generals  and  members  of  the  administra 
tion.  Isaac  always  reckoned  himself  a 
member  of  the  administration. 

"  More  than  that,"  says  Isaac,  "  it  ain't 
dignified  for  a  president  to  be  always  run- 
S 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
nin'  out  after  things  himself  instead  of 
sendin'  somebody.  He's  always  goin' 
over  to  the  telegraph  office  with  messages, 
and  settin'  down  by  the  operators  talkin' 
and  readin'  dispatches  and  waitin'  for  an 
swers.  One  day  he  came  right  up  to  my 
office  to  ask  me  to  look  up  the  record  of 
Johnnie  Banks,  old  Aunt  Sally  Banks' 
boy,  that  was  goin'  to  be  shot  for  desertion. 
Seemed  to  think  I'd  be  interested  be 
cause  he  came  from  Illinois — came  right 
up  there  instead  of  sendin'  for  me  to  go  to 
the  White  House  like  he  ought  to,  and 
when  I  took  what  I  found  over  to  him  and 
he  found  out  Johnnie  wa'n't  but  eighteen, 
he  put  on  his  hat  and  went  over  himself 
to  the  telegraph  office,  took  me  along,  and 
sent  a  message  that  I  saw,  sayin', '  I  don't 
want  anybody  as  young  as  eighteen  to  be 
shot!  And  that  night  he  went  back  and 
sent  another  message  askin'  if  they'd  re- 
9 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
ceived  the  first — wasn't  satisfied  till  he 
knew  it  couldn't  happen.  There  wa'n't 
any  reason  why  he  should  spend  his  time 
that  way.  He  ought  to  give  orders  and 
let  other  folks  see  they're  carried  out. 
That's  what  I'd  do  if  I  was  president." 

That  riled  me.  "  I  reckon  there  ain't 
any  need  to  worry  about  that,  Isaac,"  I 
says.  '  You  won't  never  be  president. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  got  too  many  folks  around 
him  now  that  don't  do  nuthin'  but  give 
orders.  That's  one  reason  he  has  to  do 
his  own  executin'." 

But  'twas  just  like  him  to  go  and  do  it 
himself.  So  interested  he  had  to  see  to  it. 
I've  heard  different  ones  tell  time  and  time 
again  that  whenever  he'd  pardoned  a  sol 
dier  he  couldn't  rest  till  he'd  get  word 
back  that  'twas  all  right.  Did  you  ever 
hear  about  that  Vermont  boy  in  McClel- 
lan's  army,  sentenced  to  be  shot  along  at 
10 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
the  start  for  sleepin'  on  his  post.  'Twas 
when  they  was  camped  over  in  Virginia 
right  near  Washington.  Mr0  Lincoln 
didn't  know  about  it  till  late  and  when  he 
heard  the  story  he  telegraphed  down  not 
to  do  it.  Then  he  telegraphed  askin'  if 
they'd  got  his  orders  and  when  he  didn't 
get  an  answer  what  does  he  do  but  get  in 
his  carriage  and  drive  himself  ten  miles  to 
camp  to  see  that  they  didn't  do  it.  Now 
that's  what  I  call  bein'  a  real  president. 
That's  executin'. 

Well,  as  I  was  sayin',  he  understood 
the  importance  of  a  lot  of  things  them 
young  officers  and  some  of  the  old  ones 
didn't  see  at  all,  and  he  knew  where  to  get 
the  truth  about  'em — went  right  to  the  sol 
diers  for  it.  They  was  just  like  the  folks 
he  was  used  to,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the 
greatest  hand  for  folks — just  plain  com 
mon  folks — you  ever  see.  He  liked  'em, 
11 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
never  forgot   'em,   just  natural  nice  to 
'em. 

It  used  to  rile  old  Judge  Davis  a  lot 
when  they  was  travelin'  the  circuit,  the  way 
Mr.  Lincoln  never  made  no  difference  be 
tween  lawyers  and  common  folks.  I  heard 
Judge  Logan  tellin'  in  here  one  day  about 
their  all  bein'  in  the  tavern  up  to  Bloom- 
ington  one  day.  In  those  times  there  was 
just  one  big  table  for  everybody.  The 
lawyers  and  big  bugs  always  set  at  one 
end  and  the  teamsters  and  farmers  at  the 
other.  Mr.  Lincoln  used  to  like  to  get 
down  among  the  workin'  folks  and  get  the 
news.  Reckon  he  got  kinda  tired  hearin' 
discussin'  goin'  on  all  the  time.  Liked  to 
hear  about  the  crops  and  politics  and  folks 
he  knew. 

This  time  he  was  down  among  'em,  and 
Judge  Davis,  who  always  wanted  Lincoln 
right  under  his  nose,  calls  out:  "  Come  up 
12 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
here,  Mr.  Lincoln;  here's  where  you  be 
long."    And  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  looked  kinda 
funny  at  the  Judge  and  he  says: 

"  Got  anything  better  to  eat  up  there, 
Judge?  "  And  everybody  tee-heed. 

Feelin'  as  he  did  about  folks  I  could 
see  how  it  would  go  ag'in  the  grain  for 
the  boys  in  the  army  to  have  a  harder  time 
than  was  necessary.  He'd  argue  that  they 
was  doin'  the  fightin'  and  ought  to  have 
the  care.  He'd  feel  a  good  deal  worse 
about  their  bein'  neglected  than  he  would 
about  the  things  he  knew  beforehand  he 
had  to  stand,  like  woundin'  and  killin'. 
And  'twas  just  that  way  so  I  found  out 
the  time  I  was  down  to  Washington  visit- 
in'  him. 

I  told  you,  didn't  I,  how  I  went  up  to 
the  Soldiers'  Home  and  how  we  walked 
out  that  night  and  sat  and  talked  till  al 
most  mornin'?    'Twas  a  clear  night  with 
13 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
lots  of  stars  and  Washington  looked 
mighty  pretty  lyin'  there  still  and  white. 
Mr.  Lincoln  pointed  out  the  Capitol  and 
the  White  House  and  Arlington  and  the 
Long  Bridge,  showin'  me  the  lay  of  the 
land. 

"  And  it's  nuthin'  but  one  big  hospital, 
Billy,"  he  said  after  a  while.  "You 
wouldn't  think,  would  you,  lookin'  down 
on  it  so  peaceful  and  quiet,  that  there's 
50,000  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  there? 
Only  Almighty  God  knows  how  many  of 
'em  are  dyin'  this  minute;  only  Almighty 
God  knows  how  many  are  sufferin'  so 
they're  prayin'  to  die.  They  are  comin' 
to  us  every  day  now — have  been  ever  since 
the  Wilderness,  50,000  here  and  150,000 
scattered  over  the  country.  There's  a 
crawlin'  line  of  sick  and  wounded  all  the 
way  from  here  to  Petersburg  to-night. 
There's  a  line  from  Georgia  to  Chatta- 
14 


AND  IT'S  NUTHIN'  BUT  ONE  BIG  HOSPITAL,  BILLY" 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
nooga — Sherman's  men.  You  can't  put 
your  finger  on  a  spot  in  the  whole  North 
that  ain't  got  a  crippled  or  fever-struck 
soldier  in  it.  There  were  days  in  May, 
just  after  the  Wilderness,  when  Mary  and 
I  used  to  ^rive  the  carriage  along  lines  of 
ambulances  which  stretched  from  the 
docks  to  the  hospitals,  one,  two  miles. 
R  was  a  thing  to  tear  your  heart  out  to 
see  them.  They  brought  them  from  the 
field  just  as  they  picked  them  up,  with 
horrible,  gaping,  undressed  wounds,  blood 
and  dust  and  powder  caked  over  them— 
eaten  by  flies  and  mosquitoes.  They'd 
been  piled  like  cord  wood  on  flat  cars  and 
transports.  Sometimes  they  didn't  get  a 
drink  until  they  were  distributed  here. 
Often  when  it  was  cold  they  had  no  blan 
ket,  when  it  was  hot  they  had  no  shade. 
That  was  nearly  four  months  ago,  and 
still  they  come.  Night  after  night  as  I 
15 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
drive  up  here  from  the  White  House  I 
pass  twenty,  thirty,  forty  ambulances  in 
a  row  distributin'  the  wounded  and  sick 
from  Grant's  army. 

"  Think  what  it  means!  It  means  that 
boys  like  you  and  me  were,  not  so  long 
ago,  have  stood  up  and  shot  each  other 
down — have  trampled  over  each  other  and 
have  left  each  other  wounded  and  bleed 
ing  on  the  ground,  in  the  rain  or  the  heat, 
nobody  to  give  'em  a  drink  or  to  say  a 
kind  word.  Nothing  but  darkness  and 
blood  and  groans  and  torture.  Some 
times  I  can't  believe  it's  true.  Boys  from 
Illinois  where  I  live,  shootin'  boys  from 
Kentucky  where  I  was  born!  It's  only 
when  I  see  them  comin'  in  I  realize  it — 
boat  load  after  boat  load,  wagon  load 
after  wagon  load.  It  seemed  sometimes 
after  Bull  Run  and  Fredericksburg  and 
Chancellorsville  if  they  didn't  stop  unload- 
16 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
in'  'em  I'd  go  plumb  crazy.    But  still  they 
come,  and  only  God  knows  when  they'll 
stop.    They  say  hell's  like  war,  Billy.    If 
'tis,— I 'm  glad  I  ain't  Satan." 

Of  course  I  tried  to  cheer  him  up.  I'd 
been  around  visitin'  the  Illinois  boys  in 
the  hospitals  that  day  and  I  just  lit  in  and 
told  him  how  comfortable  I'd  found  'em 
and  how  chipper  most  of  them  seemed. 
"  You'd  think  'twas  fun  to  be  in  the  hos 
pital  to  see  some  of  'em,  Mr.  Lincoln," 
I  said.  '  What  do  you  suppose  old  Tom 
Blodgett  was  doin'?  Settin'  up  darnin' 
his  socks.  Yes,  sir,  insisted  on  doin'  it 
himself.  Said  them  socks  had  fit  all  the 
way  from  Washington  to  Richmond. 
They'd  stood  by  him  and  he  was  goin'  to 
stand  by  them.  Goin'  to  dress  their 
wounds  as  good  as  the  doctor  had  his. 
Never  saw  anything  so  funny  as  that  big 
feller  propped  up  there  tryin'  to  darn  like 
17 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
he'd  seen  his  mother  do  and  all  the  time 
makin'  fun.     All  the  boys  around  were 
laffin'  at  him — called  him  the  sock  doctor. 

"  And  things  were  so  clean  and  white 
and  pretty  and  the  women  were  runnin' 
around  just  like  home." 

"  God  bless  'em,"  he  said.  "  I  don't 
know  what  we'd  'a'  done  if  it  hadn't  been 
for  the  way  the  women  have  taken  hold. 
Come  down  here  willin'  to  do  anything; 
women  that  never  saw  a  cut  finger  before, 
will  stand  over  a  wound  so  terrible  men 
will  faint  at  the  sight  of  it.  I've  known 
of  women  spendin'  whole  nights  on  a  bat 
tlefield  huntin'  for  somebody  they'd  lost 
and  stoppin'  as  they  went  to  give  water 
and  take  messages.  I've  known  'em  to 
work  steady  for  three  days  and  nights 
without  a  wink  of  sleep  down  at  the  front 
after  a  battle,  takin'  care  of  the  wounded. 
Here  in  Washington  you  can't  stop  'em 
18 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
as  long  as  they  can  see  a  thing  to  be  done. 
At  home  they're  supportin'  the  families 
and  workin'  day  and  night  to  help  us. 
They  give  their  husbands  and  their  boys 
and  then  themselves.  God  bless  the  wo 
men,  Billy.  We  can't  save  the  Union 
without  'em. 

"  It  makes  a  difference  to  the  boys  in  a 
hospital  havin'  'em.  People  don't  real 
ize  how  young  this  army  is.  Half  the 
wounded  here  in  Washington  to-day  are 
children — not  twenty  yet — lots  of  'em 
under  eighteen.  Children  who  never  went 
to  sleep  in  their  lives  before  they  went 
into  the  army  without  kissin'  their  mothers 
good-night.  You  take  such  a  boy  as  that 
and  let  him  lie  in  camp  a  few  months 
gettin'  more  and  more  tired  of  it  and  he 
gets  homesick — plain  homesick — he  wants 
his  mother.  Perhaps  he  don't  know 
what's  the  matter  and  he  wouldn't  admit 
19 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
it  if  he  did.     First  thing  you  know  he's 
in  the  hospital  with  camp  fever,  or  he  gets 
wounded.    I  tell  you  a  woman  looks  good 
to  him. 

"  It's  a  queer  thing  to  say,  Billy,  but  I 
get  real  comfort  out  of  the  hospitals. 
When  you  know  what  the  wounded  have 
been  through — how  they  have  laid  on  the 
battlefields  for  hours  and  hours  uncared 
for,  how  they've  suffered  bein'  hauled  up 
here,  there  ain't  nuthin'  consoles  you  like 
knowin'  that  their  wounds  have  been 
dressed  and  that  they  are  clean  and  fed, 
and  looked  after.  Then  they  are  so  thank 
ful  to  be  here — to  have  some  one  to  see  to 
'em.  I  remember  one  day  a  boy  who  had 
been  all  shot  up  but  was  gettin'  better 
sayin'  to  me :  '  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  can't  sleep 
nights  thinkin'  how  comfortable  I  am.' 
It's  so  good  to  find  'em  realizin'  that 
everybody  cares — the  whole  country. 
20 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
People  come  and  read  to  'em  and  write 
letters  for  'em  and  bring  'em  tilings. 
Why,  they  have  real  good  times  at  some 
of  the  places.  Down  to  Armory  Square 
Bliss  has  got  a  melodeon  and  they  have 
concerts  sometimes,  and  there  are  flags 
up  and  flowers  in  the  windows.  I  got 
some  flower  seeds  last  summer  for  Bliss 
to  plant  outside,  but  they  turned  out  to 
be  lettuce  and  onions.  The  boys  ate  'em 
and  you  ought  to  heard  'em  laugh  about 
my  flowers.  I  tell  you  it  makes  me  happy 
when  I  go  around  and  find  the  poor  fel 
lows  smilin'  up  at  me  and  sayin' :  '  You're 
takin'  good  care  of  us,  Mr.  Lincoln,'  and 
maybe  crack  a  joke. 

*  They  take  it  all  so  natural,  trampin' 
and  fightin'  and  dyin'.  It's  a  wonderful 
army — wonderful!  You  couldn't  believe 
that  boys  that  back  home  didn't  ever  have 
a  serious  thought  in  their  heads  could  ever 
21 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
be  so  dead  set  as  they  be  about  an  idee. 
Think  of  it!  A  million  men  are  lookin' 
up  at  these  stars  to-night,  a  million  men 
ready  to  die  for  the  Union  to-morrow  if 
it's  got  to  be  done  to  save  it!  I  tell  you, 
it  shows  what's  in  'em.  They're  all  the 
same,  young  or  old — the  Union's  got  to 
be  saved !  Of  course  you'd  expect  it  more 
of  the  old  ones,  and  we've  got  some  old 
ones,  older  than  the  law  allows,  too. 
'Tain't  only  the  youngsters  who  have  lied 
themselves  into  the  service.  Only  to-day 
a  Congressman  was  in  tellin'  me  about 
one  of  his  constituents,  said  he  was  over 
sixty-five  and  white-haired  when  he  first 
enlisted.  They  refused  him  of  course, 
and  I'll  be  blamed  if  the  old  fellow  didn't 
dye  his  hair  black  and  change  his  name, 
and  when  they  asked  him  his  age,  said: 
4  Rising  thirty-five,'  and  he's  been  fightin' 
good  for  two  years  and  now  they'd  found 
22 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
him  out.     The   Congressman  asked  me 
what  he  ought  to  do.    I  told  him  if  'twas 
me  I'd  keep  him  in  hair  dye." 

We  was  still  a  while  and  then  Mr.  Lin 
coln  began  talkin',  more  to  himself  than  to 
me. 

"  A  million  men,  a  mighty  host — and 
one  word  of  mine  would  bring  the  million 
sleeping  boys  to  their  feet — send  them 
without  a  word  to  their  guns — they  would 
fall  in  rank — regiment  on  regiment,  bri 
gade  on  brigade,  corps  on  corps,  a  word 
more  and  they  would  march  steady,  quiet, 
a  million  men  in  step  straight  ahead,  over 
fields,  through  forests,  across  rivers. 
Nothing  could  stop  them — cannons  might 
tear  holes  in  their  ranks,  and  they  would 
fill  them  up,  a  half  million  might  be  bled 
out  of  them,  and  a  word  of  mine  would 
bring  a  half  million  more  to  fill  their  place. 
23 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
Oh,  God,  my  God,"  he  groaned,  under  his 
breath,  "  what  am  I  that  Thou  shouldst 
ask  this  of  me!  What  am  I  that  Thou 
shouldst  trust  me  so !  " 

Well,  I  just  dropped  my  head  in  my 
hands — seemed  as  if  I  oughten  to  look  at 
him — and  the  next  tiling  I  knew  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  arm  was  over  my  shoulder  and  he 
was  saying  in  that  smilin'  kind  of  voice  he 
had:  "  Don't  mind  me,  Billy.  The  Lord 
generally  knows  what  He's  about  and  He 
can  get  rid  of  me  quick  enough  if  He  sees 
I  ain't  doin'  the  job — quicker  than  the 
Copperheads  can." 

Just  like  him  to  change  so.  Didn't 
want  anybody  to  feel  bad.  But  I  never 
forgot  that,  and  many  a  time  in  my  sleep 
I've  heard  Abraham  Lincoln's  voice  cry 
ing  out:  "  Oh,  God,  my  God,  what  am  I 
that  Thou  shouldst  ask  this  of  me!  "  and 
I've  groaned  to  think  how  often  through 
24 


"WHAT  AM  I  THAT  THOU  SHOULDST  ASK  THIS  OF  ME" 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
them  four  awful  years  he  must  have  lifted 
up  his  face  with  that  look  on  it  and  asked 
the  Lord  what  in  the  world  he  was  doing 
that  thing  for.   f 

"After  all,  Billy,"  he  went  on,  "it's 
surprisin'  what  a  happy  army  it  is.  In 
spite  of  bein'  so  dead  in  earnest  and  havin' 
so  much  trouble  of  one  kind  and  another, 
seems  sometimes  as  if  you  couldn't  put 
'em  anywhere  that  they  wouldn't  scare  up 
some  fun.  Greatest  chaps  to  sing  on  the 
march,  to  cut  up  capers  and  play  tricks 
you  ever  saw.  I  reckon  the  army's  a  little 
like  me,  it  couldn't  do  its  job  if  it  didn't 
get  a  good  laugh  now  and  then — sort  o' 
clears  up  the  air  when  things  are  lookin' 
blue.  Anyhow  the  boys  are  always  get- 
tin'  themselves  into  trouble  by  their 
pranks.  Jokin'  fills  the  guard-house  as 
often  as  drunkenness  or  laziness.  That 
and  their  bein'  so  sassy.  A  lot  of  'em 
25 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
think  they  know  just  as  much  as  the  offi 
cers  do,  and  I  reckon  they're  right  pretty 
often.  It  takes  some  time  to  learn  that 
it  ain't  good  for  the  service  for  them  to 
be  speakin'  their  minds  too  free.  At  the 
start  they  did  it  pretty  often — do  now 
sometimes.  Why,  only  just  this  week 
Stanton  told  me  about  a  sergeant,  who 
one  day  when  the  commanding  officer 
was  relieving  his  mind  by  swearing  at 
his  men,  stepped  right  out  of  the  ranks 
and  reproved  him  and  said  he  was  break 
ing  the  law  of  God.  Well,  they  clapped 
him  in  the  guard-house  and  now  they 
want  to  punish  him  harder — say  he  ain't 
penitent — keeps  disturbin'  the  guard 
house  by  prayin'  at  the  top  of  his  voice 
for  that  officer.  I  told  Stanton  we  better 
not  interfere,  that  there  wasn't  nothing 
in  the  regulations  against  a  man's  prayin' 
for  his  officers. 

26 


DON'T  MIND  ME,  BILLY,  THE  LORD  GENERALLY  KNOWS 
WHAT  HE'S  ABOUT" 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
"  Yes,  it's  a  funny  army.  There  don't 
seem  to  be  but  one  thing  that  discourages 
it,  and  that's  not  fightin'.  Keep  'em  still 
in  camp  where  you'd  think  they'd  be  com 
fortable  and  they  go  to  pieces  every  time. 
It's  when  they're  lyin'  still  we  have  the 
worst  camp  fever  and  the  most  deserters. 
Keep  'em  on  the  move,  let  'em  think 
they're  goin'  to  have  a  fight  and  they  perk 
up  right  off. 

"  We  can't  fail  with  men  like  that. 
Make  all  the  mistakes  we  can,  they'll 
make  up  for  'em.  The  hope  of  this  war  is 
in  the  common  soldiers,  not  in  the  generals 
— not  in  the  War  Department,  not  in  me. 
It's  in  the  boys.  Sometimes  it  seems  to 
me  that  nobody  sees  it  quite  right.  It's  in 
war  as  it  is  in  life — a  whole  raft  of  men 
work  day  and  night  and  sweat  and  die  to 
get  in  the  crops  and  mine  the  ore  and 
build  the  towns  and  sail  the  seas.  They 
27 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
make  the  wealth  but  they  get  mighty  little 
of  it.  We  ain't  got  our  values  of  men's 
work  figured  out  right  yet — the  value  of 
the  man  that  gives  orders  and  of  the  man 
that  takes  'em.  I  hear  people  talkin'  as  if 
the  history  of  a  battle  was  what  the  gen 
erals  did.  I  can't  help  thinkin'  that  the 
history  of  this  war  is  in  the  knapsack  of 
the  common  soldier.  He's  makin'  that 
history  just  like  the  farmers  are  makin' 
the  wealth.  We  fellows  at  the  top  are 
only  usin'  what  they  make. 

"  At  any  rate  that's  the  way  I  see  it, 
and  I've  tried  hard  ever  since  I've  been 
down  here  to  do  all  I  could  for  the  boys. 
I  know  lots  of  officers  think  I  peek 
around  camp  too  much,  think  'tain't  good 
for  discipline.  But  I've  always  felt  I 
ought  to  know  how  they  was  livin'  and 
there  didn't  seem  to  be  no  other  sure  way 
of  findin'  out.  Officers  ain't  always  good 
28 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
housekeepers,  and  I  kinda  felt  I'd  got  to 
keep  my  eye  on  the  cupboard. 

"  I  reckon  Stanton  thinks  I've  inter 
fered  too  much,  but  there's  been  more'n 
enough  trouble  to  go  around  in  this  war, 
and  the  only  hope  was  helpin'  where  you 
could.  But  'tain't  much  one  can  do.  I 
can  no  more  help  every  soldier  that  comes 
to  me  in  trouble  than  I  can  dip  all  the 
water  out  of  the  Potomac  with  a  teaspoon. 

'  Then  there's  that  pardoning  business. 
Every  now  and  then  I  have  to  fix  it  up 
with  Stanton  or  some  officer  for  pardon 
ing  so  many  boys.  I  suppose  it's  pretty 
hard  for  them  not  to  have  all  their  rules 
lived  up  to.  They've  worked  out  a  lot  of 
laws  to  govern  this  army,  and  I  s'pose 
it's  natural  enough  for  'em  to  think  the 
most  important  thing  in  the  world  is 
havin'  'em  obeyed.  They've  got  it  fixed 
so  the  boys  do  everything  accordin'  to 
29 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
regulations.  They  won't  even  let  'em  die 
of  something  that  ain't  on  the  list- 
got  to  die  accordin'  to  the  regulations. 
But  by  jingo,  Billy,  I  ain't  goin'  to  have 
boys  shot  accordin'  to  no  dumb  regula 
tions!  I  ain't  goin'  to  have  a  butcher's 
day  every  Friday  in  the  army  if  I  can 
help  it.  It's  so  what  they  say  about  me, 
that  I'm  always  lookin'  for  an  excuse  to 
pardon  somebody.  I  do  it  every  time  I 
can  find  a  reason.  When  they're  young 
and  when  they're  green  or  when  they've 
been  worked  on  by  Copperheads  or  when 
they've  got  disgusted  lyin'  still  and  come 
to  think  we  ain't  doin'  our  job — when  I 
see  that  I  ain't  goin'  to  have  'em  shot. 
And  then  there's  my  leg  cases.  I've  got  a 
drawerful.  They  make  Holt  maddest — 
says  he  ain't  any  use  for  cowards.  Well, 
generally  speakin'  I  ain't,  but  I  ain't 
sure  what  I'd  do  if  I  was  standin'  in  front 
30 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
of  a  gun,  and  more'n  that  as  I  told  Holt 
if  Almighty   God  gives   a  man  a  cow 
ardly    pair    of    legs    how    can    he    help 
their  running  away  with  him? 

"  You  can't  make  me  believe  it's  good 
policy  to  shoot  these  soldiers,  anyhow. 
Seems  to  me  one  thing  we've  never  taken 
into  account  as  we  ought  to  is  that  this  is 
a  volunteer  army.  These  men  came  down 
here  to  put  an  end  to  this  rebellion  and 
not  to  get  trained  as  soldiers.  They  just 
dropped  the  work  they  was  doin'  right 
where  it  was — never  stopped  to  fix  up 
tilings  to  be  away  long.  Why,  we've  got  a 
little  minister  at  the  head  of  one  company 
that  was  preachin'  when  he  heard  the  news 
of  Bull  Run.  He  shut  up  his  Bible,  told 
the  congregation  what  had  happened,  and 
said:  *  Brethren,  I  reckon  it's  time  for  us 
to  adjourn  this  meetin'  and  go  home  and 
drill,'  and  they  did  it,  and  now  they're 
31 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
down  with  Grant.    When  the  war's  over 
that  man  will  go  back  and  finish  that 
sermon. 

'  That's  the  way  with  most  of  'em. 
You  can't  treat  such  an  army  like  you 
would  one  that  had  been  brought  up  to 
soljerin'  as  a  business.  They'll  take  dis 
cipline  enough  to  fight,  but  they  don't 
take  any  stock  in  it  as  a  means  of  earnin' 
a  livin'. 

"  More'n  that  they've  got  their  own 
ideas  about  politics  and  military  tactics 
and  mighty  clear  ideas  about  all  of  us  that 
are  runnin'  things.  You  can't  fool  'em  on 
an  officer.  They  know  when  one  ain't  fit 
to  command,  and  time  and  time  again 
they've  pestered  a  coward  or  a  braggart 
or  a  bully  out  of  the  service.  An  officer 
who  does  his  job  best  he  can,  even  if  he 
ain't  very  smart,  just  honest  and  faithful, 
they'll  stand  by  and  help.  If  he's  a  big 
32 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
one,  a  real  big  man,  they  can't  do  enough 
for  him.  Take  the  way  they  feel  about 
Thomas,  the  store  they  set  by  him.  I 
met  a  boy  on  crutches  out  by  the  White 
House  the  other  day  and  asked  him  where 
he  got  wounded.  He  told  me  about  the 
place  they  held.  '  Pretty  hot,  wasn't  it?  ' 
I  said.  '  Yes,  but  Old  Pap  put  us  there 
and  he  wouldn't  'a'  done  it  if  he  hadn't 
known  we  could  'a'  held  it.'  No  more 
question  '  Old  Pap  '  than  they  would  God 
Almighty.  But  if  it  had  been  some  gen 
erals  they'd  skedaddled. 

"  They  ain't  never  made  any  mistake 
about  me  just  because  I'm  president.  A 
while  after  Bull  Run  I  met  a  boy  out  on 
the  street  here  on  crutches,  thin  and  white, 
and  I  stopped  to  ask  him  about  how  he 
got  hurt.  Well,  Billy,  he  looked  at  me 
hard  as  nails,  and  he  says :  '  Be  you  Abe 
Lincoln?'  And  I  said,  '  Yes,'  'Well,' 
33 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
he  says,  '  all  I've  got  to  say  is  you  don't 
knoiv  your  job.  I  enlisted  glad  enough  to 
do  my  part  and  I've  done  it,  but  you  ain't 
done  yourn.  You  promised  to  feed  me, 
and  I  marched  three  days  at  the  begin 
ning  of  these  troubles  without  anything  to 
eat  but  hardtack  and  two  chunks  of  salt 
pork — no  bread,  no  coffee — and  what  I 
did  get  wasn't  regular.  They  got  us  up 
one  mornin'  and  marched  us  ten  miles 
without  breakfast.  Do  you  call  that  pro- 
vidin'  for  an  army?  And  they  sent  us 
down  to  fight  the  Rebs  at  Bull  Run,  and 
when  we  was  doin'  our  best  and  holdin' 
'em — I  tell  you,  holdin'  'em — they  told  us 
to  fall  back.  I  swore  I  wouldn't — I 
hadn't  come  down  there  for  that.  They 
made  me — rode  me  down.  I  got  struck 
—struck  in  the  back.  Struck  in  the  back 
and  they  left  me  there — never  came  for 
me,  never  gave  me  a  drink  and  I  dyin'  of 
34 


BE  You  ABE  LINCOLN  ?  " 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
thirst.  I  crawled  five  miles  for  water,  and 
I'd  be  dead  and  rottin'  in  Virginia  to-day 
if  a  teamster  hadn't  picked  me  up  and 
brought  me  to  this  town  and  found  an  old 
darkey  to  take  care  of  me.  You  ain't 
doin'  your  job,  Abe  Lincoln;  you  won't 
win  this  war  until  you  learn  to  take  care 
of  the  soldiers.' 

"  I  couldn't  say  a  thing.  It  was  true. 
It's  been  true  all  the  time.  It's  true  to 
day.  We  ain't  takin'  care  of  the  soldiers 
like  we  ought. 

'  You  don't  suppose  such  men  are  goin' 
to  accept  the  best  lot  of  regulations  ever 
made  without  askin'  questions?  Not  a 
bit  of  it.  They  know  when  things  are 
right  and  when  they're  not.  When  they 
see  a  man  who  they  know  is  nothing  but 
a  boy  or  one  they  know's  bein'  eat  up  with 
homesickness  or  one  whose  term  is  out, 
and  ought  to  be  let  go,  throwing  every- 
35 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
thing  over  and  desertin',  it  don't  make 
them  any  better  soldiers  to  have  us  shoot 
him.  Makes  'em  worse  in  my  judgment, 
makes  'em  think  we  don't  understand. 
Anyhow,  discipline  or  no  discipline,  I 
ain't  goin'  to  have  any  more  of  it  than  I 
can  help.  It  ain't  good  common  sense. 

6  You  can't  run  this  army  altogether  as 
if  'twas  a  machine.  It  ain't.  It's  a  peo 
ple's  army.  It  offered  itself.  It  has 
come  down  here  to  fight  this  thing  out — 
just  as  it  would  go  to  the  polls.  It  is 
greater  than  its  generals,  greater  than  the 
administration.  We  are  created  to  care 
for  it  and  lead  it.  It  is  not  created  for 
us.  Every  day  the  war  has  lasted  I've 
felt  this  army  growin'  in  power  and  deter 
mination.  I've  felt  its  hand  on  me,  guid 
ing,  compelling,  threatening,  upholding 
me,  felt  its  distrust  and  its  trust,  its  blame 
and  its  love.  I've  felt  its  patience  and  its 
36 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
sympathy.  The  greatest  comfort  I  get  is 
when  sometimes  I  feel  as  if  mebbe  the 
army  understood  what  I  was  tryin'  to  do 
whether  Greeley  did  or  not.  They  under 
stood  because  it's  their  war.  Why,  we 
might  fail,  every  one  of  us,  and  this  war 
would  go  on.  The  army  would  find 
its  leaders  like  they  say  the  old  Roman 
armies  sometimes  did  and  would  finish 
the  fight. 

"  I  tell  you,  Billy,  there  ain't  nuthin' 
that's  ever  happened  in  the  world  so  far 
as  I  know  that  gives  one  such  faith  in  the 
people  as  this  army  and  the  way  it  acts. 
There's  been  times,  I  ain't  denyin',  when 
I  didn't  know  but  the  war  was  goin'  to  be 
too  much  for  us,  times  when  I  thought 
that  mebbe  a  republic  like  this  couldn't 
stand  such  a  strain.  It's  the  kind  of  gov 
ernment  we've  got  that's  bein'  tested  in 
this  war,  government  by  the  people,  and 
37 


FATHER    ABRAHAM 
it's  the  People's  Army  that  makes  me  cer 
tain  it  can't  be  upset." 

I  tell  you  it  done  me  good  to  see  him 
settin'  up  straight  there  talkin'  so  proud 
and  confident,  and  as  I  was  watchin'  him 
there  popped  into  my  head  some  words 
from  a  song  I'd  heard  the  soldiers  sing: 

We  are  coming,   Father  Abraham,  three  hundred 

thousand  more — 
From  Mississippi's  winding  stream  and  from  New 

England's  shore. 

You  have  called  us  and  we're  coming.  By  Rich 
mond's  bloody  tide 

To  lay  us  down,  for  Freedom's  sake,  our  brothers' 
bones  beside; 

Six   hundred  thousand   loyal   men   and  true   have 

gone  before — 
We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  three  hundred 

thousand  more. 

38 


FATHER  ABRAHAM 
That  was  it.  That  was  what  he  was, 
the  Father  of  the  Army,  Father  Abra 
ham,  and  somehow  the  soldiers  had  found 
it  out.  Curious  how  a  lot  of  people  who 
never  see  a  man  in  their  lives  will  come  to 
understand  him  exact. 


39 


}Jaul  (Elder 


